Danny Phantom/Crash Nebula:

Space Ghost

Part 2

Deep inside the dark side of the Moon, the strong sound of clashing metal echoed through every hall of the black green-shimmering stronghold, as rods and pistons fall into place. It was the cacophony of an engine that sat where no eye can see; its doors sealed away from all humans and ghosts alike except for those selected few. This fortress of metal flooded with ghost energy running through each wall and channels with flowing ectoplasm, households a technology from out of this world, a seemingly endless armada of mechanical organisms designed only for conquest assembling ready for war. A deviant smile plastered on Technus' face as his vision of the world was only hours away. He had planned this moment for two years, foreseen every obstacle, every variable and constant in the equation was coldly calculated over and over, and the result was always the same.

Nothing could ruin this moment, his army was invincible and grew larger by the hour, no force from Earth could stand against him and his goals now, and definitely no hero on Earth could save it this time.

Once we took them prisoners, we put the girl inside an energy-barred cell and her pal in a hyper-dense containment cell in the bridge for questioning, courtesy of our new friend Lance Thunder. It looks more like a fish tank though, but the scary part is that the guy was eerily eased, like if everything was going his way.

I hate it when villains think they can get away with theirs. Let's see if I can change that.

"Ok, first of all, I must say it: killer suit, dude!"

I gotta be honest with him, I love the suit. This is totally unfair. How come the bad guys always wear the coolest clothes? And how come they never wear something that isn't black?

"Thanks."

"Where did you get it?"

"I made it."

"Looks uncomfortable…"

"Yeah, it's kind of itchy…" he pauses for a very creepy second and adds "…and it rides up in the crotch a little bit, too. Yours ain't half bad either. I like the blue rectangle with gold stars and lines emblazoned on it. It makes it look like a futurist civil war union uniform from… the future. It could use a bit more of blue on the arms and legs, though."

"I know, but they just won't let me paint it. What's it made of? I mean, the fabric is all shiny and looks like its metal but I bet it is still more comfortable than this armor-suit."

"Well, it's kinda like a second skin, most of the time it's like if wore nothing at all," said shaking his butt.

Of course he did.

"Ok. Enough with the bromance," Ani shouts killing fun as always, "let's start with a name. Who are you?"

"Why don't you give me a name?"

"I already gave you my name."

"Wait, so that's really your real name? Ani? How does that ever strike fear into your enemies hearts?"

"Some of them don't really have hearts or organs," I explain.

"What if I strike your heart? Where have you lived, in a cave? I am the worst nightmare for matter like you, s—"

Better if I take it back from here.

"You want a name? Here is one you might have heard before in whispers. I'm Crash Nebula. Space hero! …And this is are my alien friends."

"Yeah right… aliens? Look, I don't know what kind of glue you've been sniffing on lately, but don't rub it on us. Last time I checked aliens aren't real. If this is a joke, is a very elaborated bad one."

"This isn't a joke. Now tell me who are you, or I'll activate the electric floor."

"Whatever dude, I'm a half-ghost. I'll just… you know, float in here, never touching the floor."

Damn it! I hate floating aliens! And what is it with the ghost thing?

I know this game, some seemingly all-powerful alien posing as something divine—supernatural before an unevolved species, is the fourth most preferred method of conquer used by aliens, but why pose as a ghost?

The holly ghost, maybe?

"Just tell me your damn name."

"Ah, must I really play along? Fine," he sighs, "if I must, I must. I'm Danny Phantom. Ghost hero! And the girl you got locked up, is about to kick your asses about right now."

"Yeah right. Y'know, last time I checked, ghost are invisible… and a hoax."

"What the heck kind of rock salt have you lived under the last two years? Haven't you seen the news?"

"Oh, I've seen enough news. And the way I see it, you're nothing but another energy-class Xenomorph trying to take over an undeveloped planet with his high technology and otherworldly powers, posing as something supernatural. I mean, why would a ghost wear spandex like Spider-Man?"

My reasoning apparently got him because he stares at me silently with a blank expression—or at least that's how those big bug-eyes on his mask make it look like—that said he was upset I guess. Can't really tell what he thinks with the mask and is truly freaking me out.

Really, he's creepy.

Then he open his mouth only to say "…Half ghost! The other half is human."

"So you're a hybrid? That's how you got humans' sympathy? Then what? You snatch their bodies? To what end, world conquest? Mind eating? I bet you're one of those aliens who can't sustain a solid form without a host."

"Wait, you think I'm the bad guy here?" He asks me like if he's offended. "Don't be stupid. I'm the savior of humanity. And your girlfriend shot mine in the face! If anyone's acting as an invader here, it's you."

"Sorry, I'm not falling for that twice. Only bad guys use a trident-class spaceship and wear black at the same time—And she is not my girlfriend! …We broke up a long time ago and decided to remain as friends."

And then as if I told him Chuck to speak he adds "Friends who have sex."

"I didn't mean girlfriend like that."

"Now, I don't know what kind of game is it you're playing here, what your plan in the moon is or how you broke the universe, but it is over now. This tank is sealed and made to contain you, there is no way to escape, and once we got you to Princess Galaxandrea, you'll face charges for trying to take over my world."

The guy stays silent again for about a minute staring at us, or more like through us with his eyes or lenses glowing green. Scary silent, and all he says is "…I see this tank is made of some hyper-dense crystal material. Man-made I guess. American-made! Not really helping your alien story but how cute, you think hyper-dense walls are going to stop me from phasing out of here. Energy or matter, thick or thin I still can escape. No prison can hold me in."

"You can try to escape if you want, I'll take you down again," Ani warns him.

"You didn't take us down, we gave ourselves in so we can get into your lair, ship or whatever this thing is. A brilliant movement if I must say. I didn't think it'd be so easy," he explains with a shit-eating-grin and—Oh shit! Not this again. How could I not see that coming?

"By the way, your computer system is way too easy to hack for an alien ship, it took only two point six seconds to my Ghost A.I. to hijack your ship's systems."

And suddenly lights start flickering, air gets colder and denser and everything goes black—for a second I even think he might be an actual ghost—and a metallic pondering sound comes along with moanings and punching sounds. When the lights start working again, his armored girlfriend was standing right in front of us, arm-crossed with a very cute wry grin and a very sinister frown behind that scary red faceshield.

"What the hell? You—you knock them out? How!?"

Un-freaking-believable! She took all my crew down in seconds! Ani, Diff, Chuck, they're all just lying on the floor stocked in… Diff… again.

This is the fourth time somebody traps them inside Diff.

"I told you she'll beat your asses."

"You beat my failsafe holding cell! But how did you escape?"

"Oh pluh-eese. That 'alien' metal alloy 7-pin, 8-cam lock, with only three layers of redundancy, that wouldn't have stopped you."

Damn! I like this girl. Wait!

"Where is your friend!? The tank, is empty!"

I don't think it twice before rushing toward the tank in awe and shock.

"No way he escaped that tank, he must be invisible," says Chuck.

Immediately, I open the holding tank so I can check with my own hands (you'd believe a suit like this comes with infrared vision, but it doesn't) and it was empty! Nothing but a strange blue mist was left, and somehow it punched me in the face!

Then the mist begins to take form in front of us, it was that guy, he turned into mist, like… Dracula.

I hate aliens with density manipulation powers!

"You son of a Troq!"

"I don't know what does that mean, but I'm gonna go with that is an insult. So you get the tank."

"Wait, what!?" And now he's got me in the containment cell. I can't believe this poozer hacked my goddamn ship!

"Now what was that thing you said about the electric floor?"

"You're joking, you wouldn't do it, would you?"

"Try me." He says with a very convincing tone, that apparently surprises even his partner.

"Just say the word and we'll blast them all, boss." Chuck says, guns popping out as always.

I would normally tell him to blast him, but this guy seems convinced to kill me if he musts and honestly I like living.

"Put the guns down Chuck. How about we just talk, you seem to like that, don't you?"

"I like to keep my planet safe. Sometimes, that means to eliminate threats like you."

Well, not sure if this guy believes his role of savior of humanity or if he just won't drop the act, but he truly sounds convinced of what he says so I better play along.

"Ok, well this is my planet too, so—"

Then this echoing British voice speaks from nowhere "Sir, I finished diving their system and files. You will not believe this."

"Wow. Is that an invisible butler?"

"That would be my operative system, so yes."

"Very cute, Master Phantom. Anyway, looks like our visitors are indeed not from this world."

"Say what!?" (Danny and Val say at the same time.)

"I ran a full biometric scan on our visitors, except for the young lad in the tank, they are neither humans nor ghosts. They are indeed not from this world, and their files verify that. As well as your suspicious of their intentions."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Uh, boss, this might be the time to tell you I got a copy of some files." Chuck says.

"Some files? What files?"

"I found their criminal records," the A.I. spoke.

"Criminal records you say? Play them for me."

"Damn it Chuck! Why the hell are keeping a copy of our records!? That's stupid! Are you trying to get us expelled from school?!"

"To show Ving's guys when they don't believe us."

You know, the worst part is his suit comes with an HD hologram player too. Why do bad guys always get the best stuff!? Mine only has this blue and static hologram player, it looks like it came from a low budget sci-fi movie from the 70's.

"Ani: an anti-matter humanoid girl, princess, soldier, wanted on over a dozen counts of murder on ten different solar systems.

"Bert the Poultrynaut A.K.A. Chuck the Turkey: wanted on over 50 charges of vehicular theft and escape from custody." Bert snarls and spits at the floor, classy as always. "Diff the blob: his species is considered to be even below humans despite their technological progress and goes on a rampage whenever someone mentions it. It seems to happen quite often.

"And finally but not less," I know this is not gonna end well, "Sprig Speevak… the human. He's also known as Crash Nebula."

"Who calls him that?"

"Himself, mostly," Ani comments.

"Thank you Ani."

"My pleasure."

"Wanted mostly on charges of minor assault, public intoxication, fraud and—I don't even know what this might be—one count of a sex crime for illegally manipulating a Tamaranian Princess."

"Ok, I just want to say the definition of sex crimes are way different in each planet."

"What?"

"She was what we humans call a stripper and I didn't know I couldn't request her service outside her planet without a license."

"I had also found a video of his latest trial."

Oh come on!

The suit starts playing the video of my latest trial where I stand before a three headed, golden skinned, purple faced alien judge stating "This is what I think of your legal system," moving my right hand as if I were playing with a jack in a box with my left fist as the box, slowly rising his middle finger at the judge.

I must say it, the suit knows how to keep it clean, the moment I gave him the finger it blurred my hand and said WARNING: OBSCENE GESTURE ALERT.

Mine is just blurry all the time.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know how this machine works"

"I know what you guys might think, and that is definitely not one my best moments, but in my defense I honestly believed I could handle Dalekian liquor. Besides, that happened to be an actual joke in his planet, like the knock-knock jokes here on Earth. And he liked it so much he left me go with just a warning and dropped the charges."

I feel like I'm digging my own grave here.

From the shadows casted on the floor, a man once known as Vlad Plasmius steps out in his human vessel, Lance Thunder. Vlad finds his new found ability to dive in the shadows both fitting and somewhat ironic—misusing the term as many do all the time—as he's now nothing but the shadow of the man he was, with his human body destroyed and his current ghost form on the brink of non-existence, forced to live inside a former weather man in order to maintain a form at all. But this new form has given him a power he never thought of having: the power of influence. The fourth power is a force to be reckon with, Lance thinks, but there was more to it than he could imagine.

As a reporter he could be on every television, in every newspaper, on every computer screen, and they touch every soul… but this would also mean he was responsible for delivering bad news. One that Technus believed to be a joke at first, but as Vlad lets him know, it could be the variable that ruins the entire equation.

"Aliens!? Aliens?! In this universe? Are you kidding me?"

"See for yourself," Vlad said tossing him a cubic flashdrive with all the information his office's scanner got from his earlier visitors.

Of course, they disabled the security system, but they didn't look for a biometric scanner.

"My stars and garters… is this… real?" He asks in awe as he reads the information.

"They visited me earlier," Lance spoke with his own voice followed in slight delay by the echo of Vlad's ghost voice. "Apparently they believe our dear boy Danny to be an alien who poses as a supernatural being, as something holly in order to take over our world," this time Vlad spoke first, followed by Lance's voice. "And they claim to be part of this intergalactic school for heroes."

"This must be a bad joke."

"It gets better, the reason they're here is because apparently somebody broke the universe! Way to go champ! Your scheme has drawn the attention of what could very well be an endless armada of extraplanetary beings who have nothing to do but saving planets from being conquered!"

"Oh, like you saw this one coming! I mean, in all these years I have never seen an honest to God alien abduction. Always believed they were jokes and pranks from stupid human teenagers."

"Well, luckily for you, I saw a solution for our problem, or perhaps should I say in our problem."

"Explain yourself."

"I cannot explain myself, for I am a very complicated man. I can, however, explain you my plan though. Now, I won't trouble your head with details, just know that right now this boy, Crash Nebula," Vlad sounds derisively, "is fighting young Daniel as we speak, believing he's protecting Earth from the biggest threat to humanity, yet… And for what I can tell our dear boy just lock them up in my old mansion's football field with my improved ghost shield."

"Why?"

"If I didn't know Daniel any better, I'd say he's using my abandoned technology to lock our visitors thinking my Omni-Shield would work on all life forms. Whatever the case, this a win-win situation for us," Vlad began explaining, "if Crash wins, there will be no more Danny Phantom to stop us from conquering Earth and he and his partners will be too weak to do anything against us, and if Danny wins, there will be no alien force coming to save the Earth and he will be too weak to stop us! See, no matter who wins… we win." Plasmius finishes with a grin plastered on Lance's face.

"Do you honestly believe that simple plan will work?" Spectra inquired with her sultry voice; her words slither into their ears as the soft and gentle whisper of a lover spoken directly at them followed by a faint distant echo; she emerged from nowhere as a thick pillar of black smoke and fire, shapping into her new drop-dead gorgeous human body, which looked much like the last one standing five foot seven and with perfect 36-24-36 measures, only but her hair was now a straight and silky mane of an intense red. An imposing burst of fiery red tendrils ending in seductive subtle curls that spread across her back and shoulders and moved in the air as though a soft breeze gently caressed it.

Spectra stood in all her glory as the smoke fades away, and let her hips swagger as she moved toward them. One beautiful leg after the other moved gracefully while her steps seemed to delicately land on her high-heeled toes.

"Spectra, I see you dyed your hair again. Good call, I always thought red was your color," Vlad noted. Lance's eyes followed her every move, wondering why did her hips curve out to a nearly uncontrollable swagger and make her generous bosom bounce with each, and every step? Who was she trying to seduce? He wanted to warn her it was not going to work on him, but he could already feel his guest's intentions on the way.

"I know, black fits everything, but red… well, I'm more of a summer."

"A hot summer night…" Vlad said, "red as blood," Lance's face drained of color and the shadow of Vlad's face was visible upon his face. He was glaring at her with disdain and red gleaming eyes. "You know most people think I'm a hot head… but is actually quite the opposite."

The temperature in the conference room drooped near thirteen degrees in a sudden rush of coldness.

"When I get mad I can be quite cold with those who disturb me, and right now… I find your lack of faith disturbing," Vlad says, making a pinching motion in the air, causing Spectra to choke, as though an invisible hand had seized her neck.

The room's temperature continues to wane, the metal walls and computers screen begin to moisture. Soon she falls on to the floor begging for air, sputtering black smoke from her mouth.

"Enough of this! Vlad, release her!" Technus ordered.

"As you wish."

Quickly all the black smoke seemed to force itself back into Spectra as she gets her air and herself back.

The pallor on Lance's face goes away, and once again his skin gains his characteristic natural tan color, and no trace of Vlad could be seen on his face.

"You're sick!" Spectra raged with eyes glowing red.

"You liked it," Vlad countered.

"Whichever you two might be, you really believe they can do anything to stop us now?" Technus asked.

"It's better not to risk," Vlad reasoned.

"Nonsense! If they had access to this headquarters, any attack made by these heroes against it would be a useless gesture, no matter what power or technology they possess. This station is now the ultimate power in the universe! So I say let those so-called space heroes and the ghost-child come knocking to my door! I'll shall teach those aliens the true meaning of fear! But just in case, I'll upgrade the security systems based on your scans."

"Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed," Plasmius advices him. "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power to control its people."

"Now I find your lack of faith disturbing."

And here we are again, in Vlad's unkempt football field wired with the best containment technology Danny knows of, where our young heroes who would have been friends any other time now clash as gladiators battling in the arena. Except this can hardly be called a battle, the fight was Danny's since the beginning.

The first to fall was Diff, being a living gelatin made him more vulnerable to a cold energy ray than any other of his teammates and that allowed Danny to focus on the real threat: Crash Nebula.

Oh, but obviously Plasmius had seen this coming and he wouldn't have sent Crash without the proper equipment and as Danny pins Sprig into the ground by the throat, he's surprised as his powers dwindle by a Spectral Energy Neutralizer Patch.

As Vlad said: No powers, no plasma rays, no problem.

But then again, that was all a lie. That patch had no more effect than halving his powers and tampering his suit's systems, making it slow because it was not to stop Danny but simply to slow him down and buy time for Technus' invasion.

Of course, cutting his powers in half did not make Danny any less of a threat, and taking away his operative system was only a step-back to basic. Even without the Occularium Targeting System he was still one hell of a shot as Crash evidences while swiftly dodging his blasts, swaying and backflipping all over the field; and his reflexes had been honed by years of ghost hunting, fighting and training. If Crash had known this, he wouldn't be surprised to see Danny dodging and blocking his and Chuck's every shot!—every missile, every plasma blast, every solid plasma bullet,—using an ice bo staff, with astonishing ease.

"Let's see if this suits you," said taking from his vambrace what seemed to be a small white disk with a blue "C" around the edge. It wasn't until he pressed the button in the middle and it began to beep with a blue flickering light that Danny realized it was a bomb!

But how much damage could do such a small bomb the size of a thumb?

Enough to force Crash to hurl himself to the other side of the field away from Danny who gets caught in the massive blue fireball. This little bomb leaves a blazing crater in the middle of the football field, large enough to be Danny's grave.

For a second Crash smirks believing to be the winner, but as the smoke fades away, he is surprised by Danny who emerges from the ground blasting him sky high with a ghost ray only to be fetched by Valerie with her board and struck by its ghost stinger.

The stinger hits him hard—his body misinterprets its electrical nature as signals from the nerves—causing his muscles to contract; he's overwhelmed by an intense pain unable to utter any plead for mercy. With his body paralyzed Crash finds himself unable to escape, yet, much to her surprise he manages to overcome the contraction just about enough to fire a plasma ray from his palm repulsors.

That should be enough to take her down, he thinks, but he was wrong again, and surprised hen she backflips and lands with the grace of an Olympic gymnast, shattering the ground with a blast from her right fist to cushion her fall. Crouching in the dusty crater with her feet wide apart, looking at Sprig who crashed on the sky-box, her black armor glimmering amidst the dust.

Jumping over her head, Ani roars with a powerful and large, smoldering white energy ball with two pink swirling rings, on her hands, charging at Valerie who bustles at her, shooting her face with a pink burning plasma ray fired at point-blank range.

Ani feels the unmistakable crunch of her nose breaking as she falls down to the ground.

"That's for shooting me on the Moon, princess."

"You broke my nose?" Ani shouts as it painfully heals back. "Oh, it's on you bi—" before she could even finish her sentence, which would have ended in a word that for humans would be bitch, Valerie connects another metal-clad punch and knees her in the mouth hard enough to break her anti-matter lips.

Blinded by rage, Ani charges at her connecting her first blow in her stomach and then elbow striking her in the face. Her fist hit like granite, but Valerie had seen worse, and before Ani could hit her again with a double axe strike, she's hit by the blinding light of Valerie's helmet—then a hook connecting to Valerie's forearm grips tight on her neck. And before she could react and do anything to defend herself, before she could try to remove the hook off her neck, she's hit by the suit's ghost stinger.

"Aaaaahhhhh!" It is not like her to fall or shriek so easily, but the pain was so intense, so all-consuming, that she no longer knew where he was. Ani might never know this, but the ecto-energy that fueled Valerie's suit, that was running through every nerve of her anti-matter body, it was destroying her anti-atoms as an aggressive cancer.

At this point she believed her head was surely—no, it was most definitely!, going to explode with pain; she was screaming louder than she'd ever screamed in her life. Is then when Valerie took pity on Ani stopping her electric torture, and takes out her ecto-energy cuff emitter.

Then it came a flash of blinding pink light accompanied with this whizzing sound; when Ani opens her eyes again—once she was able to see again—she was tied from hands to feet by this strange oscillating pink energy she had never seen and could not alter with her own or break with her strength; the hook was still on her neck, but at least it was off.

"Hey, wanna call this a tie?" Valerie, getting a glare from Ani.

Above their heads, green and blue lights filled the sky with rushing sounds as Danny and Crash blast each other relentlessly without getting any closer to hit the other. Jets of light to meet and collide, creating multicolored sparks, missiles are fired at Danny as he still fires his ghost ray, but he vanishes before they hit him and reappears behind Crash piercing his jetpack with his hands shrouded by a layer of translucent green and wispy ghost energy shaped as a claw. The two heroes fall in a swirling stele of green and blue energy, crashing into the floor, where Danny sets a foot on Crash's chest unsheathing his right arm-swords.

"So what are you gonna do now? You gonna kill me, bro?!"

"I'm not going to kill you," Danny replies calmly.

"Really? You won't?"

"No. Instead, I will pluck out your eyes with the point of my swords, and whenever you try to see anything, you will think only of me and my face," Danny began yelling as he retrieves his mask, laughing, showing his eyes turned into two little laughing mouths.

It was the face of a nightmare, but Sprig challenges him taking off his visor. "Then go ahead, do it! Do it! I ain't a baby!" The look of determination on his face spoke to Danny "I'm just gonna look cooler when I kick your ass!" Shouted staring at the swords coated in green ghost energy plummeting onto his eyes.

To be continued in DPU 28, Space Ghost Part 3